Numerous studies are conducted throughout students’ schooling, some of which relate to the academic success of girls and their differences in orientation compared to boys when they enter high school. The study conducted by the Centre francilien Hubertine Auclert aims to highlight the obstacles to the orientation of girls towards scientific fields in general, and more particularly towards digital and computer fields.

Equality between women and men is a constitutional principle. Although schools have played a major role in the emancipation of women, despite the fact that their academic results are higher than those of boys, girls are not sufficiently present in scientific, industrial and digital fields. Gendered stereotypes persist to such an extent that Claude Roiron, the ministerial delegate for gender equality, said last year:

“We are going to propose to students with scholarships in second grade a kind of bonus to their allowance that could go up to several tens of euros per month if they choose a specialty course in first grade where they are in the minority in gender. For example, philosophy and literature for boys, engineering sciences for girls or digital technology… This bonus could be doubled in the final year if the subject is retained. The arbitration on the amount of the envelope is underway.”

The Hubertine Auclert Center study

Created in 2009 and associated with the Ile-de-France region, the Hubertine Auclert Center (named after the woman who campaigned for women’s political rights) contributes to the fight against inequality and discrimination based on sex and gender and promotes gender equality.

One of its missions is to ” Promote education for equality, in particular through the realization of studies and analyses of sexed and sexist representations in educational tools.”

It conducted a study from 2018 to 2021 in five Ile-de-France high schools that it entitled:

“Barriers to girls’ access to computer science and digital fields. “

Computer science, a man’s world?

The number of female students in computer science has declined since the 1980s, yet it represented a real opportunity to access the engineering profession. Thus, at INSA, in Rennes, while the gender mix was perfect in 1980, in 2015, the proportion of women was only 14%.

At the start of the 2017 academic year, there were only 8% women in the field. In 2018, women represented 33% of employees in the IT and digital sectors, but 75% of them held “support” positions (human resources, administration, marketing, communication) and only 15% held so-called technical functions (operations, development, production, project management).

The de-feminization of the sector coincides with the appearance of computers in the home and the geek image, associated with boys.

Little interest in computer and digital studies

Students, both girls and boys, show a great lack of interest in computer and digital studies. They have the image of an associal geek, not very good at social relations, always in front of his screen, and, for the boys, completely out of step with the image of virility that they have (sports, bodybuilding, army…)

High school accentuates gender inequalities

The educational teams cannot stop the production of inequalities in high school and even help to reinforce them. Girls feel less competent and are more likely than boys to drop out, especially since they are not supported.

Thus, a member of a management team told the investigators:

“In the current high school, those who do best in the science stream are more like hardworking girls, we have some hardworking boys but most of the time the boys who succeed are boys who naturally have an appetite for science. These are boys who function very quickly intellectually and who themselves need to work much less.”

Conclusions of the study

The study made various recommendations:

• Increase the proportion of girls choosing and remaining in science and digital education;
• To improve the guidance of students in their orientation process;
• To better take into account and train professionals on issues related to gender inequalities and stereotypes in teaching and in supporting young people throughout their schooling.

It should be noted that these recommendations are complementary to the action plan proposed
in the report ” Making Gender Equality a New Stage in the Implementation ofthe High School of the 21st Century” submitted to Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister of National Education, in July 2021.

Sources: Centre Hubertine Aubert
Study: BARRIERS TO GIRLS’ ACCESS TO COMPUTER AND DIGITAL FIELDS

Translated from Etude du Centre Hubertine Auclert sur « Les freins à l’accès des filles aux filières informatiques et numériques »